Dear adults,

This is a call to action,

Every kid is looking for their passion,

It is time that we take action

But we are splitting kids up into factions

Making the world composed of common core

There are kids looking for a little more

In the fight to find our position

In this world...

Is school really the solution?

This question is faced with confusion, words like

It’s been around forever!

What else will make our future better?

How will our children learn?

Without school what money will they earn?

YES

I get it, this is true

But listen I have a question for you

As an adult, would you ever be able to have a career as a statistician, author, biologist, historian, athletic coach, and instrumental soloist all at the same time?

No, of course not, that’s insane,

To know the ins and outs of the mitochondria of the cell

And how to use the quadratic formula in every problem well,

And how many articles of the federalist papers were written by John Jay,

It’s five by the way.

Would you be expected to play the same note that every instrument could play,

And be able to speak in front of 40 others reciting a speech you memorized,

Worried that one mess up could cause your demise.

While also being able to play tennis, basketball, and ping pong professionally,

Worrying about the affairs of your family

And measuring yourself up to everyone else to get one letter that defines you.

A

I have to get that A to prove to my family

That I can be successful in their reality

That I can measure up to their legacy

And be who they have always wanted me to be

A

To see that sleek diploma

And college admission letter,

Proving that my life can be better

After I graduate

A

So I will not go down in history as a failure,

Just a stupid sailor

Who dropped out of middle school because she wanted to sail the world

A

So I can make a difference in the world

See it shift under my intelligence

And let it commence differently in its ways

Living out different days,

Because of meeeee

B

I feel as if I am reaching toward a slightly unreachable future,

Shifting my destiny ever so slightly from the 1st letter to the second.

Just one letter away from the perfect greatnesssssssss

C

I feel that I am losing hope in the things I want to be

Because I cannot memorize trigonometric ratios perfectly,

I will never make a difference because I am descending ever so fast into the abyss of failure

D

I cannot see that future anymore

Because my life is swirling into an eternal madness

Full to the brim of expectations and mid-term sadness

F,

F means failure, no one wants to be a failure,

We teach kids with one letter that they are not good enough

And we wonder why teens are depressed, moody, mean

Can’t you see what all along needed to be seen

That we are building up the self-hate grade by grade, rank by rank, score by score

Kids are falling apart more and more

The way that high school works, you can’t just be “bad” at math

See my friend GPA over here,

He won’t let you forget any mistakes,

Even the ones that aren’t our fault he makes

known in the back of your mind every hour

Yes GPA knows he has the power

to DRAG YOU DOWN

 

Not just GPA is there to torment you though

Standardized tests are meant to silence our stress

Answering question after mindless question

The tests meant to prove how much we are worth

As if a number on a page is more important than the ideas in my brain

As if every student is just a dot on a graph or a statistic for a power point

I don’t know if you see my point,

That not every student is a good test taker, yet every student’s worth is defined by test after test after test

Having to prove that they are the best

Yes, I’m better than the rest

College please, pick me,

I’m an asset according to me SAT’s

Why can’t the world just see me?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It’s not just the tests,

Every night the homework pile rises higher and higher

Solving equations, graphing lines, writing essays,

It takes time!

I sit at home, trying to write about how Romeo and Juliet is an example of literary satire

I tire of the way that despite my A, I don’t feel satisfied

Because school has put me into a box,

With less creativity

and virtually no time with my family

I want to have individuality,

But when I have the same things force fed into my brain as everyone else,

How can I be individually me?

I spend hours every night studying

Sometimes only getting a few hours of sleep

School has forced me into a never-ending cycle of monotony,

Relentlessly forcing me into early mornings and late nights

My body continuously fights

This schedule, yet everyday I wake up to the alarm clock screaming at me to WAKE UP

I don’t want to wake up anymore,

I thought that being a teenager would be FUN,

But instead I spend my hours in a white-walled school building instead of out in the sun

 

You know, I only have one childhood, and I have wasted it on stress and hopeless expectations 

Instead of playing games and listening to radio stations

We should decide, how we should live our lives,

But as you can see from the bags under my eyes,

School is becoming my demise,

Mental breakdowns over assignments that won’t matter in a week

Every hour of studying seems meek

In the eyes of my teachers

I study for the A+’s but how often do I get them,

Almost never

My gosh I just want to look clever

Perform better

Know more...

 

 

Since I was six I have spent over eight hours a day

Listening to what other people have to say about

The past

The present

The future

The way that we should think

And how we should live our lives

See, education is bringing down the next generation

Belittling the teens of the nation

Filling their heads with giant anxiety

Why do we trap kids at the age of six in mountainous expectations and sit them in rows like in factories,

Making them fret about gulping up useless information and then throwing it up on the test.

We are trying our best,

So when you mark us with that F,

We feel as if not just one class,

But our whole life is a failure

And we lose sight of that wonderful,

Magical,

A-filled future

Sincerely Students